This weekend at (GASP) Gallery Art Space Portsmouth there are numerous events happening: Is Britain Great? 3 – The Caravan Gallery exhibition and book signing Reasonably Priced Art – A selling show of original paintings, prints, drawings and more by members of Art Space Portsmouth 6 x 4 – Another chance to buy fantastic original postcard-sized art works
‘Is Britain Great 3′ is the new book by Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale – The Caravan Gallery. This is their third book in their bestselling Is Britain Great? series and published by Cornerhouse.
Their unique take on social documentary is refreshing and always opens the viewers eyes to their surroundings. Seeing things and finding humour in the everyday. The book also features essays from Sara-Jayne Parsons (Exhibitions Curator at the Bluecoat, Liverpool) and Dan Thompson (founder of the Empty Shops Network and co-founder of Culture on Wheels). The book has photographs taken in Wales, Scotland and England. Of course with my welsh roots I have always thought that the land of my fathers was ripe for the taking and Jan and Chris visited the Elvis Festival back in September to capture a weird weekend in Porthcawl. You have to buy the book to see the results.
“We find Portsmouth utterly photogenic because it’s a unique island city boasting a crazy cocktail of ingredients. Smart aspirational buildings lurk alongside traditional, sometimes shabby and forgotten areas. There’s a strong sense of identity and no shortage of character and creativity. You never know what you’re going to find next when you roam the streets of the city and go off the beaten track. Things are always in a state of flux. When we were immersed in our Pride of Place Project at Space Gallery, University of Portsmouth earlier this year we forced ourselves to look at Portsmouth in a new light. We made plenty of exciting new discoveries about the city in which we’d lived for years just by deviating from the routes we generally take.” Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale.
They are doing an extra special deal over the weekend – signed copies of the book will be available at the astounding price of £10 (RRP £15).
Come along to Aspex this Saturday 11-3pm for FREE festive fun activities. The activities on offer will be alternative Santa beard making, a winter wonderland in the education room, help make the worlds longest paper chain, mulled wine and other art/craft fun!
This will be a wonderful way to start the Christmas season and our joyous gift to the city!
A few weeks ago we launched a competition along with Anglepoise for Strong Islanders to send in images of their Anglepoise lamps to win a copy of the Kenneth Grange book ‘Making Britain Modern’.
The winner chosen by Simon Terry who is head of innovation and development at Anglepoise Ltd is Jett Abrook from Southsea. Jett used his Anglepoise to light his collection of cars.
We also had some amazing entries from Paul Thurlow and Philip Bennett.
All photographs are submitted below. In order – The winner Jett Abrook, Paul Thurlow and Philip Bennett.
Effraim Catlow’s Flat Matters website recently celebrated it’s 3rd birthday and to celebrate Effraim filmed a brand new BMX flatland edit in Southsea. Safe to say, Effraim will melt your brain with what can be done on a BMX.
No.6 Cinema is planning to re-launch in early 2012 with an exciting new programme of quality films. However, until then the cinema are looking to do some fundraising. The next event is a showing of Romantics Anonymous.
Tickets are £10, this includes a glass of wine and a chocolate making demonstration. Dawn Shrives from Le Salon Du Chocolat will be on hand before the film to guide you through the best ways to get to know chocolate, how to taste it, and what to look out for when purchasing it. She will be offering insider knowledge and tasting tips for those who would like to develop their appreciation of chocolate.
Event starts at 19.00 and the film starts at 20.00. For more information click here.
Cheeky self help post as I’m selling my old cruiser due to the fact that I’m running our of space and stuff has gotta go. I’ve put the bike up on eBay HERE so take a look at the details if you’re interested, or you can pop down to Ye Olde Bike Shoppe in Southsea and have a look for yourself.
This event runs the first Thursday of every month and this year has built up good momentum and a variety of performers. It really is an amazing space to play in and the crowd are so warm. The next After Hours is this Thursday the 1st of December and you can drop in between 6-8pm to join in and enjoy a bit of Dutch courage from the bar! I’m looking forward to knocking out a couple of Christmas songs.
Very sad to hear about the death of a true original and maverick film director Ken Russell. As a director Ken Russell had strong links to Portsmouth including much of his film Tommy being filmed in Southsea (and famously being ‘involved’ with the pier fire). RIP.
Laura Jane is a freelance photographer who’s been living in Portsmouth for the past 2 years. Laura specialise’s in action sports and lifestyle photography. This year she’s photographed events such as Relentless Boardmasters in Newquay, Animal Windfest in Poole and Relentless Freeze in London.
You can see her photographs on Facebook page and Flickr.
Here are some of her photo’s from the Guildhall Boutique Market on 20th November. The market also featured a good friend of Strong Island, miss Ami Lowman.
As you may know each year we run a home brew competition in February where the winning brew has the opportunity to be brewed by Irving & Co Brewing Co. and sold around the city in the summer. Last year’s brew, the Strong Island Hopper Ale, was hugely successful being one of Inving’s best selling ales and selling out so quickly it went through a second brew run. This year’s winning ale is Dry Dock No. 1, originally brewed by Lee Immins, went on sale in some of Portsmouth and Southsea’s pubs over the weekend.
We spoke to The Hole in The Wall in Southsea who said the new ale went down a storm with it being their best seller on Sunday and with almost two barrels empty by the end of the Bank Holiday weekend. Those guys at the Hole in The Wall and their regular ale drinkers know their stuff so for us this was amazing early news with the ale.
To officially launch Dry Dock No. 1 we are having a launch party with the lovely souls at The Belle Isle on Thursday evening. The ale will be on full flow, come down and try a pint or two. As well as being on sale all around the city the ale will also be available in Chichester’s Belle Isle too, so you can drink it away from home for the first time too.
Just over a year ago, a group of Strong Islanders were sat on the Isle of Wight ferry on our way to the yearly Randonnee cycling event; 60 miles around the island spread across 5 checkpoints. Whilst on the crossing we couldn’t help but admire various enthusiasts and their custom team jerseys. Fast forward a year and it is my great pleasure to unveil the Strong Island cycling jersey. Made as a one off for the event, the jersey is our way of representing this city and all the values that come with it. Thanks to the combined designing efforts of Chris Ballingall and Tristan Savage, we were able to produce this clean, retro looking jersey that 11 of Southsea’s finest could wear to conquer the island’s endless hills. Well done chaps.
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